On a December day in 2012, in a cold, unwelcoming room the LAST project was hatched and despatched – to make its headway in a
challenging world.
With such an important (Grade 2* listed) but ageing building most major fund-raising in the past had been to keep the church going
in the face of wet rot, dry rot, lead thefts, leaks, and repairs to the fabric
and fittings. In the Rev Howard Smith’s
time there was a huge and successful effort to repair the roof and re-paint the
church; new carpets and cushions made it more comfortable but these moves were
more about maintaining what we had rather than developing it. 168 years after
the church was built there was still no toilet.
Launched by Rev Edith Disley, who called together
parishioners and others to explore the possibility of bringing such an
improvement to fruition, a Development
Group under Jenny Daubney’s
Chairmanship was formed - able to tap into new resources, new ideas and new
enthusiasms. The highest priority was to install Barrier Free toilet facilities
but there was a clear need for a room in church which was warm all year round
not just from June to September. We also agreed that whatever we did should
look good and be in keeping with our lovely building.
Whilst the need was obvious
to the church community most grants were conditional on establishing a need in
the wider community. We were helped in this by work around that time completed
by the Lees Community Association
which had shown a demand for a community room and this was confirmed by the
surveys which we ourselves completed in the pre-planning phase. We took
soundings from various interested parties in the local community and showing us
what was really important to the whole village as well as the regular church
users helped shape our thinking. Those views were drawn together by the Development Group and a plan
formulated.
The firm of architects Lloyd Evans Prichard we chose knew the
church well (having been our church architects for several years). The initial
plans which we approved had an estimated price-tag of a huge £165,000.
Our
own fund-raising in 2013 got off to
a good start with encouraging grants from our local councillors and Saddleworth
& Lees District Partnership, together with some great ideas for church
and community events and our funds grew. However, when we were unsuccessful in
applications for some of the larger grants we considered what we really needed
and what was achievable. The plans were amended and the costing was then pared
back to a more realistic £60,000. We
presented the slim-line version of the plans to the congregation after a church
service in December 2014. From that
we had a great boost with offers of help (practical and financial), which encouraged
us enormously, together with a grant of £5,000
from a Charitable Trust.
Donations
continued to flood in from our parishioners who pledged massive sums of money,
and in June 2015 we were successful
in obtaining grant funding of £10,000 from
National Churches Trust. This took
our total funding to above half of our revised total cost, thus enabling us to
gain further funding from All Churches
Trust, Garfield Weston Foundation, Manchester Guardian Society and the Duchy of
Lancaster. They lifted our spirits as well as our Bank Balance!
At
that stage, we hadn’t enough to complete the project but we were prepared to
secure what we could (if necessary in a Phase 1). Events moved on apace – as
part of the preparation for the main work we installed bespoke cupboards in the
room under the tower to give us vital storage space and then by December 2015 with Architect Rebecca Gilbert- Rule we were able to
appoint the Contractors: Lichfield
Construction.
Throughout we
had brilliant support from the congregation and beyond with people working hard
but often putting the fun into Fund
raising efforts: with a Vintage Tea Party Teddy parachute drop, Big Band Night,
socials; Parish Boundary Walks; Queen’s Birthday Party and more. On the road to
completion we had donations of Carpet, fitted kitchen units, tiles, fridge,
cooker, microwave, and, as well as practical help clearing out the old
furniture, time and professional skills which were donated and saved
considerable sums. The back page of this leaflet reflects the impressive range
of support we received.
What the
congregation and our visitors will see on 3rd July is a splendid Barrier Free Toilet, a warm and welcoming
Community Room, a
well-equipped Kitchen, additional storage under the tower, an attractive
screen with Glazed Oak Doors and an excellent view of the church, plus space
outside the room which together brilliantly enhance and enlarge the useable
area at the back of the church. Within the Church Community we can
now welcome or welcome back a number who cannot access church services without
these facilities. We have a pleasant separately heated room for small
gatherings linked to Funerals and Baptisms. Toilet apart, the biggest boon was
seen by many who help in the church as HOT!
RUNNING! WATER! Beyond the
church: a room for community events with
overflow if needed into the church beyond the Narthex. Room for activities like
Cubs, Brownies, Senior Citizen groups
with a social or health focus; Study area for use by school. The development has enabled us to look at new
plans and possibilities for the future: Opening
for National Heritage Week with an up-dated and revised Church Heritage Trail; Visits from
linked schools as part of the Community
Cohesion Agenda; Concerts; Coffee
Mornings; a Lees and District Choral Speaking Festival and much more.
A huge vote of thanks must go to the
many, many supporters of the project, within and beyond the church, who gave
their time, their skills and their own resources to enable this major project
to come to fruition. If we have faced difficulties and delays we have been hugely blessed in the
encouragement we have received along the way.
